Chief of Medicine Leadership Opportunity

The Atlanta VA Medical Center, located in Decatur, GA, is searching for a Physician that is Board Certified in Internal Medicine or a board certification in any of the medical subspecialties managed by the Atlanta VA Medical Specialty Service Line including Cardiology, Pulmonary, Infectious Diseases, Oncology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Gastroenterology, Nephrology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, or Neurology.

The Atlanta VAMC Chief of Medicine serves as the supervisor for Medical Service assuring the VA missions of patient care, education, and research are advanced. The Chief of Medicine reports to the Chief of Staff to provide frequent updates of operations, troubleshoot and solve problems, plan for the future needs of the service line, and participate as a voting member in medical center committees including Executive Committee of the Medical Staff, Peer Review, and ad hoc committee assignments.

The Chief of Medicine works collaboratively with other service chiefs and leaders of hospital operations to optimize patient care. The Chief of Medicine is a liaison to the affiliates in the cooperative hiring of shared faculty, shared programmatic development with the Departments of Medicine, Medical Education leaders, or Office of the Deans as needed.

The Chief of Medicine (COM) is clinically responsible to the Chief of Staff. The COM works collaboratively with all clinical and administrative service lines to develop and promote high quality clinical service, research, and education programs. The COM must be board certified or board eligible in Internal Medicine or a board certification in any of the medical subspecialties managed by the Atlanta VA Medical Specialty Service Line. The COM should be acceptable by the academic affiliates for a faculty appointment at the Associate Professor or Professor level at Emory University and Morehouse Schools of Medicine.

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

• May function independently as a member of the Medical Staff with full clinical privileges
• Assumes complete professional responsibility for clinical assessments, patient care decisions, and documentation;
• Provides consultation, direction, and coordination of care in all Medicine services, ensuring the clinical quality and efficiency of care delivery;
• Supervises the inpatient and outpatient components of Internal Medicine, to include: ICU, Inpatient medicine wards, dialysis, cardiology, and gastroenterology procedure suites;
• Provides direct supervision of all Internal Medicine providers;
• Ensures credentialing and privileging requirements are met by all medicine service providers, including requirements for Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE) and Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE);
• Promotes and assures coverage for telehealth practice and activities;
• Assists in the design, development, and implementation of clinical programs;
• Complies with local and national performance standards;
• Attends and participates in administrative and informational meetings for the Medicine Service, Medical VA Care line, Chief of Staff, and Medical Center Director;
• Adheres to policies and procedures established by Central Office (VACO), the network (VISN7), and local medical center;
• Participates in clinical review process including tort claims, peer review, management reviews, and administrative activities as directed by the Chief of Staff;
• Participates in Research/Quality Improvement activities;
• Participates in process improvement/quality assurance projects;
• Serves as a member of the facility medical staff and on the Executive Committee of the Medical Staff (ECMS);
• Provides oversight for the education of medical students, residents, and fellows rotating on the Medicine service;
• Fosters a culture of transparency, communication, collegiality, and patient centered interdisciplinary team work.

Preferred Qualifications:

1.    Should be acceptable by the academic affiliates for a faculty appointment at the Associate Professor or Professor level at Emory University and Morehouse Schools of Medicine. Teaching of medical students, residents, and fellows in affiliate sponsored training programs requires a faculty appointment as part of the requirements of residency review commissions and accreditation of medical schools.

2.    Board certified or board eligible in Internal Medicine or a board certification in any of the medical subspecialties managed by the Atlanta VA Medical Specialty Service Line  including Cardiology, Pulmonary, Infectious Diseases, Oncology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology, Gastroenterology,  Nephrology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, or Neurology. 

3.    Prior medical teaching experience is preferred as the incumbent will be responsible for the educational mission of the service line and the quality of training and compliance with programs for medical students, residents, fellows, podiatrists, physician assistants, quality scholars program, and supervision of chief residents in medicine, podiatry, and quality/safety. Recognition of teaching skills is desired.

4.    A previous training or participation in medical research programs demonstrating understanding of the research mission of the VA as evidenced by publication record and experience in research programs as the physician will support and balance the allocated research time of staff physicians to optimally foster the VA research mission. The COM will be responsible for communication with staff physicians with allocated research time of opportunities within the VA system for funding of grants that address improvement and quality of medical care.

5.    Experience as a School of Medicine faculty member to act as liaison with the affiliated medical schools’ Departments of Medicine, Oncology, Dermatology, Emergency Medicine, and Family Medicine. The physician will contribute to enhancing faculty career development working with the affiliate for VA staff physicians who are faculty members, advise, counsel, and mentor faculty in career development as an integral part of retention of VA physicians and their job satisfaction.

6.    The physician should show evidence of experience developing a strategic plan for managing a complex department of medicine and preparation for supporting the VA mission for access, quality, and development of novel mechanisms of care for veterans, business operations, experience gathering operations data, and preparation of reports. 

7.    The successful applicant will have familiarity with labor relations in the Federal Government.

Work Hours: 8am-4:30pm Monday-Friday
Salary Range: Up to $240,000 per year

Recruitment/Relocation incentives are authorized for this position

Key Requirements

• Must pass pre-employment examination
• Designated and/or Random Drug Testing required
• Background and/or Security Investigation required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English

For more information, please send an updated CV to: samuel.wright4@va.gov; or call Sam Wright at: 334-294-6130